Cleveland Sports Forum

Nothing forecast for Cleveland other than trying for Murphy. That is a reasonable guess.

2 years for DeGrom based on his injury history is logical
8 years for Judge bases on his age and history is too long!

And the G's wait for the leftovers

Not sure why you're down on the front office. They have done a solid job of keeping the team competitive and an awful lot more than that this year.

I would not give my money for 8 years of Judge.
I would not sign major league veteran free agent pitchers with career 57=67 records if I could get similar results from a Cody Morris.
If I can trade a Mike Clevinger for 6 players at least several of whom are major leaguers; trade great Francisco Lindor [who is perhaps only very good and is not getting any better as he enters his peak years] for a pair of 2b/SS; trade a fading star Kluber for a budding star Clase.

We all have our individual opinions.
I am pleased with their decisions and their spending other people's money

Here ! Here !

Did not see this last week.

Twins trade Gio Urshela to Angels: What it means for Minnesota, Los Angeles


By Sam Blum and Dan Hayes
Nov 18, 2022
140

Save Article
The Minnesota Twins have traded infielder Gio Urshela to the Los Angeles Angels for right-handed pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo, the team announced Friday. Here’s what you need to know:

In his only season with the Twins, Urshela hit 13 home runs and had 64 RBI while batting .285 in 144 games.
Hidalgo, 19, spent last season with Low-A Inland Empire, going 0-3 with a 4.62 ERA, 19 walks and 58 strikeouts.
Urshela has 62 homers and 256 RBI with a .275 batting average across seven seasons with the Guardians, Blue Jays, Yankees and Twins.

Gio has had a decent major league career; initially looked like a great fielder, questionable hitter back when he played for Mahoning Valley Scrappers a decade ago

Phillies To Sign Trea Turner To 11-Year Deal
By Darragh McDonald | December 5, 2022 at 1:39pm CDT

The Phillies and shortstop Trea Turner have agreed on a contract, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Turner will make $300MM over 11 years with a full no-trade clause, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.

I guess if you've got Monopoly Money to throw around.....

Phillies are the Yankees of the 2020's.

Mets give Verlander $86M for 2 years.

although the Big Baseball News today is of course the rule 5 draft [see Minors folder] I noticed that the Yankees decided to pay Aaron Judge an amount equal to or in excess of the GDP of a variety of Pacific Island nations and about a 1/4 of Belize's --- population 400,000]. to keep him around until he turns 41.

isn't baseball [aren't sports] great

the Padres came to terms with Xander Bogaerts on a stunning 11-year, $280 million contract,
Giminez will have no reason not to go for a deal like Bogaerts' if he establishes himself at the level he played at in 2022

Catcher Willson Contreras (five years, $87.5 million) agreed to a deal with the Cardinals
I'll take Christian Vazquez for a year or two at as much as 20% of that

Brewers Interested In Catching Upgrades
By Darragh McDonald | December 8, 2022 at 3:24pm CDT

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold says that the club is looking to improve behind the plate, per Curt Hugg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. When asked if they were more likely to pursue trades or free agents in that department, Arnold said it’s “hard to handicap.”

The Brewers used a fairly even time split behind the plate in 2022, with Victor Caratini getting 73 starts and Omar Narvaez getting 80. That’s becoming more standard practice around the league, as few teams want to wear down their best catchers by having them crouching behind the plate every day for years and years. Caratini is still on the roster but Narvaez reached free agency at the end of the 2022 season.

The club already made one move to bolster their depth at the position this offseason, acquiring Payton Henry from the Marlins. However, Henry only has 20 MLB games under his belt so far and didn’t play much in the minors this year either due to thumb surgery. He still has options and so it’s fairly sensible for the club to look for a second major league catcher to pair with Caratini and bump Henry down the depth chart and into the minors.

In terms of the free agent market, the top option is now off the board with Willson Contreras agreeing to a deal with the Cardinals for $87.5MM over five years. The Brewers were never really going to be shopping in that aisle, since they’ve been actually trying to trim costs around the edges of their payroll this winter. Their trade of Kolten Wong was a cash-neutral deal, but the Brewers have moved Hunter Renfroe and his projected $11.2MM arbitration salary and let Brent Suter and Brad Boxberger depart for some modest savings. Their payroll for 2023 currently sits at $116MM, per Roster Resource, about $16MM shy of last year’s $132MM Opening Day figure, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

The Brewers might want to dedicate some resources to other parts of their roster, such as their outfield or bullpen, but there should be room for a catching addition if that’s their priority. The top free agent remaining is generally considered to be Christian Vazquez, but he seems to have wide interest, having been connected to the Twins, Red Sox, Padres, Diamondbacks, Guardians, Giants and Cubs in recent weeks.

If the Brewers don’t want to go hard on Vazquez, the other options in free agency include bringing back Narvaez, as well as glove-first options like Roberto Perez, Tucker Barnhart and Austin Hedges. There’s also slugger Gary Sanchez, as well as wild card Mike Zunino who missed most of 2022 due to surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. None of those options would break the bank but they’re also all imperfect in one way or another.

If they opt for the trade route, the most prominent candidates in that department are Sean Murphy of the A’s and Danny Jansen of the Blue Jays. Both are projected for modest arbitration salaries, with Murphy at $3.5MM and Jansen at $3.7MM. The greater cost would likely be what is required to send the other way in a trade. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has been writing about the catching market recently and had one executive describe the asking prices in those discussions as high “like the moon.” The A’s apparently asked for outfielder Lars Nootbaar, infielder Brendan Donovan and Gordon Graceffo in their Murphy talks. The Jays also wanted Nootbaar in the Jansen dealings and also discussed Ryan Helsley, per Goold.

Those lunar asking prices were what caused the Cardinals to turn their backs on the trade market and just spend the money required to land Contreras, though there was also the draft pick compensation since Contreras rejected a qualifying offer. The Brewers generally aren’t shy about making deals, having traded away Wong, Renfroe and Josh Hader just in the past few months.

However, meeting Oakland or Toronto on their level would likely require further subtracting from their major league roster or dipping into a farm system that isn’t especially well regarded. FanGraphs currently considers their system to be 16th, with Baseball America placing them 13th and MLB Pipeline 19th. Those are obviously middle-of-the-pack placements, but many of their top prospects seem to be in the club’s plans for 2023.

well compared to that brewers story, we DO have a farm system that is well regarded, so more options for Cleveland

As for the other available candidates one guy we can be certain Cleveland is not interested in is Gary Sanchez, always famous for his awful defense.

Usually injured, roughly average OF gets $20M a year for eight years over which on past history he will be lucky to play 1000 games.
Steven Kwan can see his major payday ahead of him.

Mets and Brandon Nimmo agreed to terms on an eight-year, $162 million contract, The Mets' first-round Draft pick in 2011, Nimmo has spent his entire professional life in the organization, hitting .269/.385/.441 with 63 homers and 213 RBIs over 608 Major League games.

The 29-year-old appeared in a career-high 151 games this past season and produced 5.1 WAR (per Baseball-Reference), posting a .274/.367/.433 slash with 16 homers and 102 runs scored. He was the Mets' unquestioned leadoff hitter.

It marked just the second time in seven seasons (including the shortened 2020 season) that Nimmo reached 100 games played. Despite his first-round Draft pedigree, he didn’t break in as a consistent starter for the Mets until 2018 and battled frequent injuries prior to ’22.